Australian Grand Dairy Awards 2017 - Winners Announced

Listen up dairy lovers, the winners of The Australian Grand Dairy Awards 2017 have been announced! The World Loves Melbourne was privileged to attend the night of nights of the Australian Dairy Industry at Greenfields in Albert Park. The esteemed Australian Grand Dairy Awards has announced its 2017 Champions, revealing the nation’s 20 finest dairy products out of a record 470 entries.

As a foodie I'm excited by our dairy industry - which is world class. We've seen consumers become more savvy in recent times when it comes to dairy, and the standard of dairy across the board is sky high. And who doesn't love a function where there's a lavish amount of award winning cheese? It was amazing to mingle with dairy industry heavyweights, cheese makers, owners, and dairy loving aficionados. The hosting for the night by Alice in Frames was professional, humorous and vibrant - such a consummate host. The dairy arrangements at the various food stations were works of art that belonged in the NGV.

The ultimate dairy prize, the 2017 Grand Champion Dairy Product, was scooped up by Queensland based gelataria, Milani House of Gelato, for its smooth and creamy Dark Chocolate Gelato which the judges deemed so divine is was difficult not to eat the whole tub.

The displays were simply amazing.

Tasmania’s Heidi Farm once again impressed the judging panel, taking out the 2017 Grand Champion Cheese with its robust Raclette - a consistently superb semi-hard melting cheese with a pleasant sweet and nutty-mid palate and some lingering umami savoury characters. I couldn't get enough of this raclette and declared that this raclette station at the event was to become my second home! OK so I went back for seconds.

Raclette heaven (below).

For the first time ever, the Australian public was also given the opportunity to play judge to determine the champion cheese of the new People’s Choice category. More than 3,500 consumers cast their vote to reveal King Island Dairy’s Black Label Double Brie as the inaugural People’s Choice Award.

In what was a rigorous judging process, a panel of 24 expert judges tasted their way through the hundreds of gold medal winning dairy foods – including cheese, ice cream, milk, butter, cream, yoghurt, dips and gelato – assessing flavour, aroma, texture, body and appearance. We're glad all this cheese is accessible to the consumer and I've taken some serious notes to fill my shopping trolley with even more top notch cheese.

Flavours influenced from different corners of the globe were represented in the coveted list of Champions with locally produced European and Indian style dairy products such as Montefiore’s Trecce, That’s Amore Cheese’s Diavoletti, House of Riz’s Traditional Greek Rice Pudding and Sharma’s Kitchen’s Mango Lassi all taking out the top spot in their category. We think these producers are rock stars - and the brands are widely known for their artisanal brilliance.

Amanda Menegazzo, convener of the Australian Grand Dairy Awards said, “These Awards are the grand final of dairy competitions in Australia, recognising the talented Australian farmers and producers who bring such high quality dairy foods to our fridges.

“The quality and variety represented by our 2017 Champions marks a really exciting time for the industry and dairy lovers. It’s really pleasing to see some of the country’s well known and loved supermarket brands alongside new-to-the market, artisan dairy products. We encourage Australians to look out for the blue and gold Champion and Grand Champion medals on pack and show their support for these talented Australian producers.”

Now in its 18th year, the Australian Grand Dairy Awards are Australia’s most prestigious national dairy awards and the highest accolade for Australian dairy producers.

The full list of 2017 Australian Grand Dairy Awards Champions is below and on the Legendairy website.